


Three wins

by sloganeer



Category: The West Wing
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-08
Updated: 2007-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-03 03:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sloganeer/pseuds/sloganeer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a close election.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three wins

When Josh wins his first election, Sam is there. It's a city councilman, a good guy, if a little weak at the podium. But at the moment the final count is announced, oratory and policy don't matter. All the things that convinced Josh to take the candidate on don't matter because he's won. It was Josh's strategy, not the name or the man. It was Sam's words.

He's locked in Josh's office to finish the acceptance speech. Josh goes to find him when all is official. He wants Sam to be the first he congratulates.

Sam is on the floor, a pen in his hand and one in his mouth. His pants are wrinkled, he's kicked off his shoes, but his tie is still knotted. Josh had knotted it for him that morning.

"It's not finished," Sam says around the pen.

"Take your time. The councilman's still waiting for the concession call."

"But it's official?"

"We won, Sam."

He looks up. Josh is smiling, and that doesn't happen enough.

"You won."

"Well, yes." And that makes Sam laugh. "But I needed your words."

He gets down on the floor next to Sam, leaning in to sneak a peek at the speech. Sam says, "Not yet," and pushes him away. Josh reaches back, smooths his hair down and kisses his cheek. They wait alone in that room for fifteen minutes before Sam's words are needed again.

-

When Bartlet wins, and keeps on winning, Sam is always in the other room. Josh and Leo and the Governor are with the numbers. Sam, Toby, and CJ are somewhere else, putting words together.

In the stolen looks between the Governor and Leo, Josh can see what he's missing. "Look what we can do," they say. The Governor laughs, and Leo calls him Jed, and Josh wants to go find Sam and talk about the next eight years. And the eight years after that when Josh gets his own guy in the White House.

-

When Sam wins, at the exact moment CNN announced the numbers, Josh isn't there. He's in a room somewhere, looking at his numbers and worrying about the next four years. It was a close election. Then, amid the hugs and cheers, Sam sees him, standing in the open door and grinning big enough to fill the room.

Sam gets pulled away for the concession call, and then Toby.

"Eight pages," he says, and Sam can hear him pacing over the phone. "Sam, I'm faxing you eight pages for your victory speech. They're good pages, maybe too much for a rookie to handle, but when you stumble, that'll be good TV for me."

Sam laughs because he hasn't heard Toby's voice in so long.

"You did good," he says, and Sam can feel it, too.


End file.
